Home » Mekong Eco Travel Guide » 6 UNIQUE ANCIENT HOUSES IN MEKONG DELTA VIETNAM- MEKONG ECO TOUR

6 UNIQUE ANCIENT HOUSES IN MEKONG DELTA VIETNAM- MEKONG ECO TOUR

The ancient houses in Mekong have the unique combination between Indo architecture and Champa one as the proof of cultural development and workmanship of some Vietnamese skillful artists. More specially, the Indo architecture and sculpture made under France colony bear the mark of interference between the Western architecture and the Vietnam traditional one. Let’s look at the following 6 famous ancient houses in Southwest region to see their unique structures.

Binh Thuy ancient house – Can Tho

Binh Thuy ancient house or Binh Thuy orchid garden is a 5 compartment-house with two roofs which was built in 1870 by Duong family.

Looked from outside, Binh Thuy ancient house is in French architecture. However, the design inside it is typical for the traditional interior decoration of Vietnam. All the house wares are made of rare species of timber with the very sophisticated sculpture. This is the place retaining a number of precious antiques during the last 140 years. Outside, in the side of the house, many different types of precious orchids are blooming, creating a highlight to this place.

Bac Lieu Dasher’s Palace

This palace was designed and constructed in 1919 by a French engineer. At that time, the owner of the palace was Mr. Tran Trinh Huy – Bac Lieu Dasher who was about 19 or 20 years old. All the construction materials were transported from France. Thus, when finished, this was considered the most luxury house in the South of Vietnam at that time.

Despite some times of restoration, the house still keeps its original ancient architecture. The furniture inside the house like desks, chairs, bed, cabinets, precious potteries are the proofs for a prosperous stage of this renowned person.

Ancient house of Huynh Thuy Le (or Marguerite Duras House) – Dong Thap

In the outside appearance, Huynh Thuy Le ancient house was built in the style of Western Europe villa, but the internal structure is in the Eastern style.

The house was constructed in 1895 with the main material is timber that exudes the beauty of a traditional 3 – compartment – house in the Southwest area. Take the idea of a sad love story between Marguerite Duras – a French writer and a Vietnamese dandy, Chinese native, Huynh Thuy Le ancient house appeared in the famous novel L’Amant and the film with the same name. Thus, besides the special in architecture and antiques, Marguerite Duras House is famous through the novel L’Amant which has been translated into 43 different languages and gained the Goncourt price – the most precious literary award in France.

Hundreds Pillars Ancient House in Long An

This ancient house located in Cau Duoc district, Long An province is determined as an national historic and has become the key tourist attraction in the region. The name of “hundreds pillars” makes people curious about this ancient house. In fact, the house contains 120 pillars, built according to Nguyen dynasty’s structure, bearing the style of Hue.

The house was constructed in around the years 1909-1903 by a group of worker in the Central part of Vietnam. It includes 3 compartments, 2 timber wings with sophisticated sculpture. The whole view is more unique as the house was tiled with Yin and Yang tiles.

Cau Ke Ancient House – Tra Vinh

Cau Ke ancient house, also called as Huynh Ky house, is located in Cai Ke town, Cau Ke district which is about 30 km from Tra Vinh city. This is one of the ancient houses in the Western region which are famous for the ancient style together with French design in early of XX century.

Similar to many other ancient houses in the West, the interior arrangement in Cau Ke ancient house is typical for Vietnamese style which has the combination between tradition and modern. This is said to be the unique construction in terms of sculpture and painting which bear the historical values of Tra Vinh and the Southern area in general at the early 20th century.

Cai Cuong ancient house (Vinh Long)

The hundreds years old ancient house of Cai Cuong in Vinh Long possesses the unique harmony between Western modern architecture and the ancient style of Eastern region. After many times of restoration, the interior arrangement and decoration seem to be intact with their original values.

The difference of Cai Cuong ancient house in comparison with others in the Western region is the images sculpted on the pillars, the wooden boards and the horizontal lacquered boards which did not comply with the standards of sculpture. Particularly, they are not the images of dragon, tortoise or phoenix, but some very common in the Mekong delta like crab, fish, tiger, leopard, deer and so on, which are sculpted carefully.
In this house, Amateur Music which is considered the indispensable spiritual food of the people in the Southwest region takes place frequently. This kind of activity reflects a part of the local traditional cultural life which has been protected and developed until now.